Get answers to the major questions about equity and excellence in education: What are the big equity issues? What are the most significant roadblocks to closing achievement and opportunity gaps? Why is important for our nation to achieve these goals? What happens if we don’t achieve these goals?

The Commission on Equity and Excellence documents how our K-12 education system fails the nation and too many of our children, and does not distribute opportunity equitably. A noted demographer will describe the children in America and the conditions in which they live. She will make certain that we understand the populations being served – for good or for ill – by our education system.

For at least over half a century, America has been misguided to emulate authoritarian education models in the world in its attempt to improve education at home.The idea of global benchmarking has become even more seductive in recent years, with the arrival of globalization and more powerful international assessments such as PISA. In this talk, Dr. Yong Zhao discusses the dangers of following the wrong model and suggests that America needs to invent for the future, instead of benchmarking to the past.

Ensuring Education Equity & Excellence: The Role of the StateKristen Amundson, National Association of State Boards of Education

State boards of education are pursuing aggressive agendas to ensure that all students achieve to high standards, and state legislatures are dealing with the complex problems of ensuring equity and adequacy of education funding. The head of NASBE will offer a firsthand perspective on who is responsible for what and share how NASBE is preparing state policymakers to be effective leaders, supporting equity and excellence.

This diverse panel of experienced leaders – individuals with more of their career in front of them than behind –will identify the most significant equity issue/opportunity gap and offer strategies for closing it. View Presentation Slides - Helen Janc Malone